This invention relates to devices for protectively storing discs, and more particularly to plastic wallets for containing discs such as optical digitally encoded discs.
The well known "compact disc" or "CD" includes optical digitally encoded information thereon for playback or read back by optical transducer means utilizing a laser device. CDs are typically individually packaged in a reusable storage device for protecting the CD and its optical information surface.
Plastic wallets for protectively storing CDs are disclosed in parent applications Ser. Nos. 08/455,015 and 08/326,540, which applications are incorporated herein by reference. The inventions described therein include wallets constructed of welded together flexible plastic sheets forming a pocket between two of the sheets having a first opening for receiving the CD. Preferred embodiments of the disclosed wallets provide that the two sheets are further welded together by a seam along a circular arc exceeding 180.degree. including welds at the termini of the arc defining a second opening for the CD pocket for permitting passage therethrough of at least one-half but not the entirety of the disc when the disc is received by the first opening. The width of the second opening and the diameter of the arc are related to the diameter and the thickness of the CD such that the CD resists withdrawal from within the arc through the second opening when at least one-half of the disc is contained within the arc.
The typical CD includes a central aperture and the wallet may include, particularly in embodiments wherein the CD may be substantially entirely contained within the pocket, an opening or slot in one of the sheets for affording manual access to the CD's central aperture for assisting in withdrawing the CD through the second and first pocket openings. A slot, as taught in parent application Ser. No. 08/326,540, longitudinally extends toward the wallet's spine and permits a person to manually urge the CD at its central aperture for displacing a portion of the CD from the pocket, the slot being sufficiently long for thereupon affording access through the slot to an edge of the CD for displacing the CD's central aperture from the third pocket, permitting the person to grasp the CD at its aperture and its circumferential edge for completely removing the CD from the pocket without touching the CD's encoded surface.
Another pocket configuration for facilitating CD removal without touching the CD's information surface is the thumb notch configuration disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,850,731, to Ross O. Youngs, wherein the pocket's unsealed edge describes a broad notch for permitting simultaneous access to the CD's central aperture and circumferential edge when the CD is inserted in the pocket and throughout the removal process.
Notwithstanding that CD removal is facilitated by such devices, there remained a need for increasing the facility with which the CD may be inserted into the pocket. One device for accomplishing this result is disclosed in parent application Ser. No. 08/455,015, by configuring the pocket's unsealed edge with a thumb notch extending from rounded corners thereof, the rounded corners being folded thereacross to form ears extending away from the pocket for facilitating entry of the CD into the pocket.